The Only One
by Drizzle117
Summary: Minka has a question to ask, and her painting has told her that Russell is the one who'll give an honest answer. Turns out the answer is a little more than she bargained for-but she likes it all the same. (Russinka, done on request)


**The Only One**

**By Drizzle117**

Minka Mark was working on her latest artistic masterpiece when the question came upon her.

It was an unexpected question; one that she had never thought would come into her head. But it did, and now she wanted to know the answer. The question was, who to ask?

The pink spider monkey stopped, her paintbrush wrapped in her long, furry tail as she contemplated this idea for a minute, as well as studied her newest painting. It was very lovely—one of her very best, if she did say so herself. Orange and brown dots trailed the outside, while green decked the interior—a kind of mix between dark and light green so that it made the most perfect shade she could imagine. The painting reminded her of something, but what?

Minka scurried up to the top of the painting and leaned down over it. Maybe looking at it from a new perspective could help her figure out the answer, because when she figured out what the painting was of, then she could easily figure out the answer to her lingering question! That might sound like weird logic to many, but it made perfect sense to Minka.

"Hmm…" she murmured out loud. Hanging upside down wasn't giving her an answer. "What is this of…?"

"Bravo, Minka!"

Blinking her blue eyes in surprise, Minka looked up to see Russell smiling at her. "That's really a beautiful one, you know," he said, gesturing at her painting. "Clean, crisp, and organized."

"Thanks!" Laughing, the spider monkey flipped off of the painting and landed in front of the hedgehog. She looked back up at the painting from his angle; just to see if it really did look as good as he thought it did, evidentially.

It really did. The oranges and the browns combined to make some sort of a rusty color, and the two large green splotches in the middle reminded her of eyes poking out and looking right at her. Green eyes, with orange and brown spiky fur…

Minka gasped. "It's you, Russell! You're the one I have to ask!"

The hedgehog blinked. "Pardon?" he asked nervously.

"See, I have a question, but I didn't know who to ask, so I thought to myself: _Well, Minka, whatever this painting is of is what I have to ask my question to! _And it's you, Russell! Can't you see? It's a painting of you!"

Russell blinked his green eyes. "Me?" He looked back up at the painting. "You painted a picture of…me? Without even thinking about it?"

"Yeah, you must have been on my mind," Minka agreed, scrambling back up to the top of her canvas and looking down at the hedgehog from a bird's eye view. "So…can I ask you my question?"

"Anything—I'm all ears," Russell said, nodding.

The spider monkey looked nervously down at the ground, her tail twisting and curling right up along her back. "Well…when everyone was pressuring me to become a famous artist, why were you the only one who didn't?"

The hedgehog blinked, and looked down at the floor so that Minka wouldn't see the expression on his face. She didn't, and continued instead.

"I mean, you were my manager, and I couldn't have asked for a better one, but you could have latched onto their "Minka Inc." and…" the pink monkey trailed off wordlessly. She _never _had nothing to say—but apparently she did today.

"Minka," Russell said in what he hoped was a calming tone. "I'm your friend, and right then, the others weren't being very good friends to you. I felt…bad for you?" He cringed, wondering what she would think of this, but she didn't say anything. Tapping his paws together, he said, "I was the only one willing to stick up for what _you _thought. The others wanted power and money. I wanted you to be happy."

She didn't reply for a few seconds, and Russell thought that he had said something wrong, but then: "Really, Russell?" Minka whispered, looking over at him with a wide grin on her face. "You really did that for me?"

"You bet," the hedgehog replied, trying to force a smile. He didn't have to. Seeing her expression, his curved-up lips came naturally.

"You are the _best friend ever_," she trilled, and leapt from the top of the canvas in front of him, embracing him in a tight hug that only Minka could give. Russell laughed, feeling his mind explode with happiness—but it quickly vanished when she pulled backwards, spines sticking out of her arm.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" he apologized, but she laughed it off.

"It's fine, Russell," she said jubilantly, and began to pull the quills out of her arms, not wincing whatsoever as she did this. "After all, you know…" Her bright blue eyes seemed to see into his soul, and she grinned as she said the last words. "You were the only one."

**AN: This was a request given to me on my other LPS one-shot, Dance like you Know you Can. I thought about it for a while, and I think that it came out pretty good, if I do say so myself. I'd love to know what you think, though, so anonymous reviews are ALWAYS welcomed. ;) And if you couldn't tell, it's Russinka (MinkaXRussell) and the events they're talking about happened in Bad Hair Day (Episode Three). **


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